Container

ABSTRACT

A compartmented Bliss-style container including an improved wrapper forming a bottom wall, a first pair of sidewalls, and a top closure for the container, and an insert positioned within the wrapper and forming a second pair of sidewalls for the container and a partition to divide the container into compartments.

United States Patent 1191 Randle, Jr. 1 1 Nov. 25, 1975 l CONTAINER 2.706.594 4/1955 Dunning 229/44 R 2,722,341 11/1955 Geor e 229/15 x [75] Edward Maumee 3,050,228 8/1962 Lune? 229/15 3,258,188 6/1966 Houston... 229 15 Assigneez Owens-Illinois, Inc. Toledo Foley v [22] Filed: June 24, 1974 Appl. No: 482,090

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l/1929 Bliss 229/23 R 2/1940 Reaume 5/1952 Reeser 229/44 R X Primary ExaminerDavis T. Moorhead Attorney, Agent, or Firm-A. J. Steger; E. J. Holler [57] ABSTRACT A compartmented Bliss-style container including an improved wrapper forming a bottom wall, a first pair of sidewalls, and a top closure for the container, and an insert positioned within the wrapper and forming a second pair of sidewalls for the container and a partition to divide the container into compartments.

21.Claims, 11 Drawing Figures US. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet 1 of6 3,921,893

w m B G M 2 0% C M m I H w m B 9 i W N E M W FIG.

FIG. 5

U.S. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet20f6 3,921,893

US. Patent Nov.25, 1975 Sheet30f6 3,921,893

U.S. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 U.S. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet50f6 3,921,893

FIG. 8

FIG. 9

U.S. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet60f6 3,921,893

FIG. I l

CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to containers and, more particularly, it relates to containers of the Bliss type. Bliss type containers have been utilized in the corrugated paperboard container trade for a number of years. The Bliss box design has included an outer wrapper having three adjacent panels which form the bottom wall and two sidewalls of the finished container. Top closing flaps have traditionally been attached to the sidewall panels to be folded over into parallel relationship with the bottom wall for closing of the container. Separate wall-forming panels have been inserted into the wrapper to close the remaining two sides of the container. When it was desired to have a compartmented Bliss style container, a separate partition assembly was utilized to divide the space within the container. Thus, to achieve a compartmented Bliss style container, the user was required to assemble a wrapper, two individual side panels, and a partition insert. Generally, the assembly of this number of individual components required hand assembly and eliminated the possibility of high-speed, economical machine assembly. Thus, there has been a long-felt need in the corrugated paperboard industry for a simplified construction of a compartmented Bliss style container which is suitable for machine assembly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, the object of this invention to provide a compartmented Bliss style container which is an improvement over existing structures of this type. The unique container of this invention provides an improved wrapper forrning a bottom wall, a first pair of sidewalls and a top closure for the container and an insert positioned within the wrapper and forming a second pair of sidewalls for the container and a partition to divide the container into compartments. It is the provision of an integral partition and sidewall-forming insert member that is felt to be an advance over the prior art. The use of the integral partition and wall-forming member in combination with the improved wrapper of this invention eliminates the need for separate wallforrning panels in a Bliss style container. This invention provides a variety of configurations which are suitable as an insert member providing an integral partition and wall-forming member. For example, the insert member may be formed from a one-piece blank which may be folded into an H-shaped structure which provides a pair of wall-forming panels and a partition panel. Similarly, the insert member may be formed from a pair of U- shaped members which may be adhesively attached to each otherto form the wall forming panels and partition panel. Other objects, features and advantages of the subject invention will become apparent upon reference to the following detailed description of the invention and the drawing illustrating the preferred embodiments thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank for making a Bliss style wrapper incorporating the features of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a blank for making one of the unique U shaped integral partition and wall-forming insert members of this invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the partially assembled wrapper and insert members formed from the blanks of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the wrapper and insert members of FIG. 3 after they have been assembled together;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the closed container of this invention;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the assembled container of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of this invention utilizing two U-shaped insert members to form the partition and sidewalls;

FIG. 8 is another alternate embodiment for an integral partition and wall-forming insert in accordance with this invention; and

FIG. 9 is S shaped embodiment of the partition and wall-forming insert of this invention.

FIG. 10 is a one piece embodiment of an H shaped partition and wall forming insert;

FIG. 11 is another embodiment of an H shaped one piece partition and wall forming insert of this invention.

This invention is a container having a wrapper and an insert having wall forming panels connected by a partition piece. The wrapper wall-forming panels form a segmented container with at least a bottom and four walls. Partitions are important to provide separation for bottled products including liquid bleach, soft drinks, or fruit drinks packaged in individual plastic or glass containers. The prior art method of distributing containers for such products is to assemble a regular slotted container and to insert, usually using manual labor, a plurality of different kinds of partition dividers.

In the packaging of liquid bleach, for example, a manufacturer of plastic containers inserts plastic bottles into a segmented container. The empty plastic bottles are shipped in the container to a bleach manufacturer. The cartons are opened and turned upside down to be dumped; that is to remove the plastic containers for filling and repackaging.

This method of shipping is expensive and frequently the plastic containers jam as they are being discharged from the container. The improved containers of this. invention makes it practical to ship blanks for forming the container in a flat package from the container manufacturer and ship the plastic containers separately in.

bulk to the bleach manufacturing site. The bleach manufacturer then assembles the container of this invention. Automatic filling equipment positions the plastic bottles into the assembled container. The container of this invention makes it practical to ship the container blanks in a flat configuration greatly reducing the amount of space required to transport them, as contrasted with transporting as assembled container. As it is an art practice to engage trucking services on the basis of volume rather than weight, it is must more economical to ship blanks in their flat configuration and to assemble them at the job site.

The preferred embodiment of a container of this invention comprises a wrapper, an insert piece and, in some embodiments, closure panels.

Each of the components is preferably made from corrugated paper; however, other lightweight sheet materials which are flexible enough to be bent may also be used to make the container. FIG. 1 shows a blank from which one embodiment of the wrapper is constructed. Sheet material is slit and lined to form three foldably connected panels comprising bottom panel 11; first side panel 12, second side panel 13, both panels comprising a first pair of sidewalls, and closure panels 14 and 15. Attachment tabs l6, l7, l8, l9 and are foldably attached to portions of the free edges on the length dimension of the blank. The attachment tabs of the clo sure panel and bottom panel do not extend the entire length of the panel to which they are attached. Their ends are cut square to the length side, forming a square corner. A blank (FIG. 1) is folded at right angles along the fold lines 26 and 27, 28 and 29 to form a wrapper FIG. (3). First side panel 12 is foldably connected along line 27 to bottom panel 11. Second side panel 21 is foldably connected to the bottom panels along line 26. Closure panel 15 is connected to panel 13 along line 29. Second closure panel 14 is connected to an edge of the first side panel along line 28. This embodiment has one closure panel longer than the other to provide an offset abutment. Other embodiments do not utilize closure panels. A blank (FIG. 2) of foldable material is formed to provide a U shaped insert 30 having wall forming panels 32 and 33 connected by partition member 31. Two such inserts positioned in a backto-back relationship form a double U shaped insert shown in FIG. 3.

A partially assembled container is shown in FIG. 3 and a completely assembled container in FIG. 4. Insert piece 30 comprises partition-forming panels 31, 31a and wallforming panels 32, 32a, 33 and 33a. FIG. 4 shows the assembled container from the wrapper and two U shaped insert pieces positioned within the wrapper. wall panels 32, 32a, 33 and 33a of the inserts forming a secondpair of walls for the container.

FIG. 6 is an end view of an assembled container illustrating the abutting relationship between attachment tab 16, and tabs 17 and 18, providing a rigid relationship between the insert and the wrapper. The insert wall panels form a second pair of walls of the container and the partition provides a segmented interior for the container. The wall forming panels of the insert are fastened to the wrapper tabs using adhesive, glue, staples or other means.

The container of this invention reduces the use of paperboard or other material. It is now possible to make more wrappers from the same quantity of material formerly required to make a Bliss style box of equivalent volume resulting in a substantial savings of paperboard material. By properly orienting the layout of the wrapper in a sheet of material, it is now possible to eliminate wasted paperboard material and to gain lower cost in a savings of paperboard, which is, of course, an end product of the pulping processes of trees. The blanks can be arranged on standard sized corrugated board sheets.

FIG. 3. shows two U shaped insert pieces placed in apposition with their connecting partition panels 31 and-31a in a surface-to-surface relationship. FIG. 7 shows another embodiment using two U shaped partitions, to form an insert piece, providing sidewall panels for a container.

The novel construction of using the insert piece panels to provide walls to replace the separate panels used in the prior art Bliss style container, provides an advantage in shipping the container from the manufacturing site to the customer site, reduces the consumption of corrugated paperboard and provides a stronger shipping container.

A number of other embodiments of insert pieces or partition pieces are disclosed in FIGS. 8-11 providing a variety of configurations for segmentation so as to package bottle and jugged products.

FIG. 8 shows an insert piece having partition member and wall panels 61 and 62.

FIG. 9 shows an insert in the form of an 5" shaped insert piece having partition member 63 and wallforming panels 66 and 67.

A wrapper is formed from a blank and is folded as shown along the fold lines forming a bottom, a first pair of side panels and attachment tabs. The attachment tabs are folded at to their supporting panels along the fold lines, as shown to form a wrapper which has a plurality of tabs projecting at about a 90 angle to the respective supporting panel shown in FIG. 3. An insert is positioned into the assembled wrapper as shown and forms a second pair of sidewalls for the container.

In some embodiments of the invention one closure panel is substantially longer than the other panel so as to offset the closure abutment of the panel away from the partition piece. This offset closure panel arrangement provides strength to the container when the double U shaped inserts are used and the partition forming panels are not glued together.

The wrapper and various inserts of this invention provide a strong, low cost container which can be shipped flat and easily assembled at the customers site.

I claim:

1. A compartmented Bliss-style container comprising, in combination: a wrapper formed from foldable sheet material and including a bottom wall, a first pair of sidewalls connected to opposite edges of the bottom wall and positioned perpendicularly to the bottom wall, a pair of top closure flaps foldably attached to the upperfree edges of said first pair of sidewalls, and attachment tabs foldably connected to the opposite free edges of the bottom wall, the first pair of sidewalls and the top closure flaps, and an insert formed from foldable sheet material and positioned within said wrapper, said insert including a pair of partition panels foldably attached to each other and folded so as to be in face-toface engagement to form a partition member, and wallforming panels hingedly attached to the opposite ends of each of said partition panels and positioned perpendicularly to said partition panels to form a second pair of sidewalls for said container, said attachment tabs on said bottom wall, said first pair of sidewalls, and said top closure flaps being folded into engagement with said second pair of sidewalls, and one of said pair of top closure flaps being substantially larger than the other of said top closure flaps so as to overlie at least a portion of each wall-forming panel of said second pair of sidewalls.

2. A compartmented Bliss-style container as set forth in claim 1, wherein the attachment tabs connected to the opposite free edges of said bottom wall are of sufficiently less width than said bottom wall so as to be spaced inwardly from the opposite edges of the bottom wall a distance substantially equal to the width of the attachment tabs connected to opposite free edges of said first pair of sidewalls and the attachment tabs connected to the opposite free edges of the top closure flaps are of sufficiently less width than said top closure flaps, so as to be spaced inwardly from the foldably attached edges of said top closure flaps a distance substantially equal to the width of the attachment tabs connected to the opposite free edges of said first pair of sidewalls, and said attachment tabs connected to the 5 walls.

opposite free edges of said first pair of sidewalls extend- 

1. A compartmented Bliss-style container comprising, in combination: a wrapper formed from foldable sheet material and including a bottom wall, a first pair of sidewalls connected to opposite edges of the bottom wall and positioned perpendicularly to the bottom wall, a pair of top closure flaps foldably attached to the upper free edges of said first pair of sidewalls, and attachment tabs foldably connected to the opposite free edges of the bottom wall, the first pair of sidewalls and the top closure flaps, and an insert formed from foldable sheet material and positioned within said wrapper, said insert including a pair of partition panels foldably attached to each other and folded so as to be in face-to-face engagement to form a partition member, and wall-forming panels hingedly attached to the opposite ends of each of said partition panels and positioned perpendicularly to said partition panels to form a second pair of sidewalls for said container, said attachment tabs on said bottom wall, said first pair of sidewalls, and said top closure flaps being folded into engagement with said second pair of sidewalls, and one of said pair of top closure flaps being substantially larger than the other of said top closure flaps so as to overlie at least a portion of each wall-forming panel of said second pair of sidewalls.
 2. A compartmented Bliss-style container as set forth in claim 1, wherein the attachment tabs connected to the opposite free edges of said bottom wall are of sufficiently less width than said bottom wall so as to be spaced inwardly from the opposite edges of the bottom wall a distance substantially equal to the width of the attachment tabs connected to opposite free edges of said first pair of sidewalls and the attachment tabs connected to the opposite free edges of the top closure flaps are of sufficiently less width than said top closure flaps, so as to be spaced inwardly from the foldably attached edges of said top closure flaps a distance substantially equal to the width of the attachment tabs connected to the opposite free edges of said first pair of sidewalls, and said attachment tabs connected to the opposite free edges of said first pair of sidewalls extending the full width of said first pair of sidewalls so as to be located in the spaces created at the ends of the other attached tabs when all of said attachment tabs are folded into engagement with said second pair of sidewalls. 